1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic relay.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electromagnetic relay is used for making and breaking a load voltage. In order to reliably make and break high load voltages, however, attempts have been made to open and close the contact point by using a motor as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 65685/1995. However, the device of the above publication has a complex structure and is expensive. It has therefore been attempted to connect plural electromagnetic relays each having a pair of contact terminals in series (see FIG. 18) or to connect the contact terminals in series inside an electromagnetic relay that has plural contact terminals (see FIG. 19).
Even in the above-mentioned case, however, defects are involved such as an increased number of steps for forming wiring to make a connection among plural connection terminals, an increase in the length of current-flow path in the relay which generates greater heat, and use of plural electromagnetic relays or of an electromagnetic relay having plural contact terminals which drives up the cost and makes it difficult to decrease the size.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a relay of a simple structure capable of reliably making and breaking high load voltages.
According to the present invention, there is provided an electromagnetic relay which comprises
a first fixed contact terminal and a second fixed contact terminal spaced from each other on one surface of a base block,
fixed conductor pieces, in a number nxe2x88x921, mounted on said one surface of said base block in alignment with and between the first fixed contact terminal and the second fixed contact terminal, and
moving conductor pieces, in a number n, formed by or supported by cantilevered spring members that are simultaneously moved by one or plural coils mounted on said base block, for connecting the first fixed contact terminal, the second fixed contact terminal and the two neighboring fixed conductor pieces simultaneously in a crosslinked manner,
wherein the first fixed contact terminal and the second fixed contact terminal are connected together through serially arranged contact sets of a number of 2n formed by the first fixed contact terminal, second fixed contact terminal, fixed conductor pieces of the number of nxe2x88x921 and moving conductor pieces of the number of n,
while n is an integer of not smaller than 1.
The thus constituted electromagnetic relay realizes the making and breaking of a voltage on a base block through plural serial contact sets.